president obama. it's another tactic he's using. he's won on this issue. >> dorian warren gets tonight's last word. thanks, dorian. >> thank you. word." up next, "hardball" with chris matthews. >> jersey boys. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start with this. we've heard the story, how in the winter of world war i, the two sides, german and english, climbed out of their trenches and sang christmas carols together. well, today, an echo of that spirit rose over the jersey shore. two politicians of different parties figuring out how to do their jobs together. say what you will, debbie downers of the world, there comes a time when the grown-ups got to do their jobs. so they put away their toys, their big birds and their

bayonets and do the business they got elected to. i love politics, and today is one of the reasons. it's not all stupid ads on tv, it's not all handlers and bs artists. some days it's just a job, and some days like today, it's the most important job we've got. joining me to talk about this, this remarkable political moment today that unfolded on the jersey shore, former pennsylvania governor ed rendell and david corn, washington bureau chief for mother jones and the author of "47%." both are msnbc political analysts. governor rendell, i know you're an ocean city guy, 34th street, you've been down there, you're well known in that community. i don't know what it meant to you, but my brother jim filled me in today. the boardwalk is gone down there where grace kelly lived, all that historic stuff down there. just gone. all the way down to the south everything's flooded. it's amazing how much damage.

but luckily, as i think was wonderful the way your former colleague, actually governor christie said today, not much loss of life. this is all about stuff that can be replaced. >> right, and he's right. it can be replaced if we understand that government has a role in our lives. government is important in our lives, and government has to be the key factor in helping that effort, that recovery effort. >> well, let's talk about that effort. let me go right now to david corn who is joining me. it seems to me that fema, working on that with the carter administration, there was a judgment made way back when in the '70s that government needs to be united. one focus by one man or woman, this guy, fugate's got to be good. you need like a baseball team, you need a manager, somebody to call the shots. >> and we see with more extreme weather happening in the last few years, it's more necessary to have a national, federalized approach, particularly in the planning and in the research and tracking storms. that can't be done by 50 different states. i thought the president today was very smart when he spoke up in new jersey with governor christie. he thanked the congressional

delegation for voting for fema funds. something that, of course, mitt romney -- >> well, anybody -- here's where it happens. the president this afternoon toured that devastation down in jersey with governor chris christie. afterwards, they had some kind words for each other. let's watch. >> pleased to report that he has sprung into action immediately to help get us those things while we were in the car riding together. so i want to thank him for that. he has worked incredibly closely with me since before the storm hit. i think this is our sixth conversation since the weekend, and it's been a great working relationship to make sure that we are doing the jobs that people elected us to do. and i cannot thank the president enough for his personal concern and compassion for our state and for the people of our state. and i heard it often the phone conversations with him, and i was able to witness it today personally. it's my honor to introduce to all of you the president of the united states. >> good job, chris.

i have to say that governor christie, throughout this process, has been responsive. he's been aggressive in making sure that the state got out in front of this incredible storm, and i think the people of new jersey recognize that he has put his heart and soul into making sure that the people of new jersey bounce back even stronger than before. >> let me get to this, governor rendell. you're a pro, and i think you can tell people right now in a couple of minutes how different it is being a professional politician from being your average, passionate political person, who roots for one side against the other but doesn't understand what it's like to work day to day with somebody from the other political party and finding common ground. you've done it when you worked with w. when he was president. explain how that works when you put aside the partisanship and you work together. >> well, you have to and particularly in an emergency

management, because the whole system, chris, is set up like a pyramid. fema's at the top. fema goes to the state emergency management agency, and the state then fans out to the different counties. and cooperation is essential. and, look, your opening was exactly right. there are sometimes when we have to do our jobs, and that means putting our people first, putting politics way on the back burner, and i commend governor christie for doing that, and i think the president's done a good job at that, as well, but that cooperation is essential. it's also smart because governor christie is a smart guy, no question about it. he's done the right thing here, but it's also the smart thing. because the more he cooperates with the president, the more likely it is that he'll get the things that are necessary to begin the rebuilding process in new jersey, short-term and long-term. >> let's talk about jersey, because you're very familiar with it. you know, you and i are about the same age. we grew up watching that beach disappear over the years. then they rebuilt the whole beach. again down where you have your house that you go to in the summers. you've got big dunes, actually, with stuff growing on them, which i never knew, it's like cape cod down there. my brother just talked to me on the phone a couple of hours ago.

he tells me that a lot of that's just gone now. and the boardwalk down where you live is gone now. and atlantic city, a big part of that is gone now. federal money, how do you do a cost benefit and go in there and say, this is a value to the american economy to rebuild that part of the country that's right there on the water's edge? >> well, the interesting thing, and, chris, you're right, my house in ocean city had 10 inches -- 10 feet of water in the basement. fortunately, it didn't go under the house. but the shoreline, a lot of it's gone. and that means a comprehensive effort. we've got to find sand. and, interestingly, as we dredge eastern ports to get them ready for the big liners that are coming in from the panama canal, that frees up a lot of sand that can be used in rebuilding those beaches. but that's going to take an effort between the army corps of engineers and the states. and that's federal/state, again. so the recovery process depends on federal/state cooperation. and i think we're going to see it. i think new jersey, the governor is intent on bringing new jersey back. mayor bloomberg, who always does the right thing, is intent on bringing new york back.

i think you're going to see a great local/state/federal effort to rebuild what's been shattered. it's what americans do best, when we put partisanship aside. >> and there's also a difference among the states, david. you know, the civil war sort of united the country as a country. but all the time, people say, oh, i just care about utah, i just care about virginia or something. i don't think people still think like that. i think there's a lot of interest in what happened in new york on 9/11, tremendous national interest in that and in this case. >> what the can governor just said cuts against the core philosophy of the tea party and the far right republican party. >> so the war is -- you're not in the trenches singing christmas carols right now? >> no, no, i think as we look ahead, you have to be realistic here. and while you and i and the governor believe in these communal values that unite us and that will guide us -- >> and federal values. >> federal values. you know, he was talking about a federal/state partnership. there are some, and i think paul

ryan's in this camp, i'm not sure mitt romney is. >> romney said we ought to defund fema, period. >> privatize this, let states do this, let people take care of it on their own, i think we see a real difference and we're going to be fighting over these federal recovery issues for some time to come, i think, because as the governor described it, it is a massive job. >> let's talk about the army corps of engineers. more pictures from this afternoon with governor christie looking on. take a look at how he handled this. i wish he'd been doing a lot more of this before. look at how he handled this sort of meat and potatoes government work and the way he describes it here. >> what i can promise you is that the federal government will be working as closely as possible with the state and local officials, and we will not quit until this is done, and the directive that i've given, and i've said this yesterday, but i will repeat, and i think craig and others who are working with me right now know i mean it, we are not going to tolerate red tape. we're not going to tolerate bureaucracy. and, you know, i've instituted a

15-minute rule essentially on my team. you return everybody's phone calls in 15 minutes. whether it's the mayor's, the governor's, county officials, if they need something, we figure out a way to say yes. >> you know, governor, that is what a lot of people think of as government. you know, they think of the dmv. they think of where they've been that day and somebody gave them a hard time or somebody gave them attitude about them coming into work. they say, don't get me in the way, excuse me, i'm the citizen, i'm paying for this thing here. that was meat and potatoes politics, i thought, from the president. 15-minute rule on answering the phone. because you know there's been a critique of this president over the last four years about not so quick to responding to others when they call. you know that. >> he did the right thing and, by the way, emergencies require different and new and sometimes emergency actions. and the president's right to activate that. i want to say one thing about what you said about the national feeling here. when katrina happened, i got a call the day after from haley barbour, the republican governor

from mississippi, who, of course, is a friend of mine. and he said, i need guardsmen. can you send me guardsmen? pennsylvania had, you know, no nickel on that dime. we're thousands -- hundreds of miles away from the gulf, but we have 20,000 guardsmen, and i activated 2,100 and sent them down to mississippi and to louisiana, and the interesting thing, chris, is i got tons of letters citizens of those states thanking me, but i also got letters from my own guardsmen, who said it was the best thing they've done since they've been in the national guard, to help americans from another area of the country who are suffering. and that's the spirit that takes over, and it's, as you said, what makes us a special place. >> well, that's why people like you and they like haley barbour, thank you, governor rendell, and thank you, david corn. you never get to be a governor, you don't get to know what that's like. and for the latest on the devastation on the jersey shore, we turn to ron allen, who's at point pleasant. ron, i was feeling for you the other night. you're in the -- you were on that phone.

i thought the "hindenburg" crashed in new jersey. what a report you gave us. you should have that recording for your memoirs. i'm telling you. tell us what it looks like today. >> reporter: thanks, chris. it was quite a night here, and now the devastation. the other thing is, i think it's going to get tougher for a lot of people before it gets better in the short run. we've already heard reports of gas lines forming, people trying to get fuel for their cars. it's getting colder here at night, and, of course, a lot of people without power are not going to have heat although the number of outages have dropped. it was 2.4 million. now it's about 500,000 have gotten power back. one woman i was talking to said that the only place that's open around here is a 7-eleven and a pizza parlor, and wherever you drive, there is a roadblocks and traffic jams. there's going to be a lot of hardships and inconveniences. the other thing, you were talking about the beach earlier. let me show you what the beach

looks like here now. pan over in this direction. there used to be a sand dune here that was about, oh, 12 feet tall, about 30 yards deep. and that was a protective barrier for this part of the town. that's where we were reporting from a couple of nights ago, and that's the situation all up and down the shore. and as you see now, it's completely gone. and all that sand is in the town. the streets are covered with maybe 2 feet of sand several blocks in. the other thing is that the ocean today is about -- it's breaking about 40 or 50 yards from where i'm standing now. much different from the other night, of course, when it's topping here. so this is what's normal here. that's why so many people here now i think are having a lot of difficulty getting their head around what happened, because it just doesn't seem to be the kind of place where storms could get so out of control, get so ferocious, and do so much damage so quickly in a matter of hours. because the ocean was literally rushing down the street to the city. and as i said the other night, the water was waist deep at times, and it was moving very fast so now you also have a lot of inland flooding. the other thing that's happening

is this part of the state, there's a lot of inland water ways, rivers, there's a bay on the other side, and all that water came together. that's what caused the flooding. and now that water's not going anywhere. and that's why there's going to be a lot of misery and suffering here for a long time to come. >> okay. thank you so much for the daytime report now. it's great having you both times of day. ron allen in point pleasant beach on the jersey shore. coming up, spin game from the republicans. romney's expanding the map, he says, advertising now in tv in michigan and pennsylvania and forcing team obama, the other side, to play defense. from the democrats, romney can't find the votes for the battleground states, so he's throwing wild passes where he can't win. the new polls out today suggest the democrats are right, this is a distraction, not a reality. also, that romney jeep advertisement we told you about yesterday was so dishonest, so misleading that chrysler and gm executives themselves are pushing back. people expect politicians to trim the truth a bit, but it's possible that mitt romney has just crossed a line that not even the most uninformed voters

will accept, that jeep is moving to china. and look who's back, joe isuzu, speaking of dishonesty, this time campaigning, kind of, for mitt romney. >> i'm joe isuzu. guys, vote for mitt romney and you'll get a free binder full of women, you have my word on it! >> well, in case you missed that, it's a spoof, sort of, and it's in the "sideshow." joe isuzu is back. finally, let me finish with the best way to fight people who play racial politics -- get out there and vote. this is "hardball," the place for politics.

we've got new national polls on the presidential race. let's check the "hardball" scoreboard. first a new "washington post"/abc poll shows mitt romney and president obama with a tie. a new "new york times"/cbs poll has the president up one, 48-47. and a new npr poll has romney up one, 48/47 but the npr poll also finds that president obama has a four-point lead in the battleground states, 50-46. we'll be right back.

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joe," and i will shave off my mustache of 40 years if we lose any of those three states. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was, of course, david axelrod, famous for his mustache. he's with the obama campaign, sounding very bullish i should say on their chances, obama's chance of carrying michigan, minnesota, and of course, pennsylvania. these three states haven't been given much time or attention by the media or the money spenders until lately.

and that's because the romney camp and their cohorts in the super pac world announce they're now going to start advertising there. they're pouring in over 4 million bucks in pennsylvania, 2 million in michigan, and about $1 million in minnesota. well, the obama campaign has said they're going to match all that, go to the air waves to match one that. what we're watching is both sides probably spinning their case. republicans say they're seizing new opportunities, in other words, they're going to win the swing states but also win these. democrats say the romney camp knows they've lost steam in that seventh battleground state area, and they've got to go looking for some other where, some other chance to move it. right now, let's bring in erin mcpike now and james paterson. erin mcpike of course is with real clear politics, and james peterson is a lehigh professor and grio contributor. erin, give me a sense, is ohio pretty much obama territory now? >> we think that it is. and all of the national -- or excuse me, the ohio public polls show that, yes, president obama is leading.

he lost a little bit of ground, but he's made that back up again. but one thing i would point out, chris, is that the obama campaign is seeing very different internal polling than the romney campaign is seeing and republicans told me earlier this week that last week their polls showed mitt romney up four to five points in ohio. by monday, mitt romney was leading president obama in these ohio republican internal polls by just one point. so they've seen his numbers go down. the obama campaign tells me that he's consistently led two to four points in their internal polling. so you might say that it's spin, but these two campaigns are seeing very different data and that's why they're arguing these cases that they are. >> do you trust these people that are giving you these numbers? i mean, are they just giving you numbers, or do you really believe them? which of these people are the most credible when it comes to numbers when you match them up against other evidence? >> well, one of the things that the romney campaign was suggesting just about an hour ago on a conference call that

they had, the romney pollster, neil newhouse, was saying that he doesn't buy some of these national polls because he was just pointing out that the quinnipiac/"new york times" poll and said that was weighted more heavily toward registered voters than likely voters and thought that it sort of overshowed a little bit of enthusiasm for democrats, and i keep hearing this over and over again from republicans, chris, and that is, they don't believe that obama voters will turn out as much as the obama campaign expects. these sides do believe very different things. sure, they're spinning some, but they do believe different things. >> okay. let me go to james peterson. let me go to this whole question. and i may agree with the republicans to this extent, in terms of taxes. everybody's been talking about these swing states as if the tail can wag the dog. somehow if you win the swing states, you affect the whole rest of the country in doing so, when, in fact, that's the residue. that's the result of the way the whole country goes. it ends up being close in certain states.

but if you spend all your advertising money and all your grass roots, all your social media, and you focus it all on ohio, that doesn't help you win in pennsylvania. it doesn't help you in minnesota or michigan. i'm wondering whether they got the thing wrong, possibly the obama people, by putting all their faith in winning those seven states or most of them. what do you think? >> i think that because of the electoral college, elections, presidential elections have to focus on swing states and have to focus on these emerging purple states, because as it turns out, they do -- the elections sometimes do hinge on them. this election does seem to hinge on these particular swing states. the reason why the polling is so confusing, chris, is because sometimes national polls don't take into effect the fact that we have an electoral college, don't take into effect that some of these swing states will be singularly determinative in terms of the presidential election. and so that's why we're getting all this conflict around. and that's why the internal polls for each campaign may be different from what some of those external polls are. but the external polls are pretty clear on terms of the president's lead, it's been pretty substantial so far.

and also pretty clear for quite some time that pennsylvania, although it is a truly purple state, is leaning towards obama at this point in time. >> now to three states everyone agrees are being hotly pursued. polls from quinnipiac, "the new york times" and cbs news shows the president is up, 50/45. virginia, 49/47%. florida is the closest, president obama is up one point over romney, 48-47. so there you see it, erin, these states all show obama up. i'm wondering, is that a consistent mood? obviously, the romney people don't buy that >> no, and, look, we are seeing a little bit of a swing back toward president obama. one thing i will say about the storm, about sandy is that president obama is going to be continuing to get positive national media coverage this week, and that could help independents swing back his direction. the thing i'll tell you about being on the ground here in ohio, chris, is that mitt romney is getting pounded by the local press in northern ohio for that

chrysler ad that he's been running, and it hasn't come off the air yet. it hasn't come off radio yet either. >> has anybody said -- erin, has anybody said it's an honest ad in the objective media? anybody said it's an honest ad? >> certainly not the media in northern ohio, not the toledo papers, the akron papers, the cleveland papers. they are all pounding mitt romney for that. and here's the thing, chris. northern ohio, especially cleveland and toledo, will go very heavily for president obama. cincinnati, where i am sitting right now, will go heavily for mitt romney. what we need to watch on election night is columbus, where franklin county is, because we've been seeing the romney campaign campaign very heavily in central ohio in and around columbus. we're going to see president obama go there on friday. that's the area that could make up the difference come election night. >> okay. james peterson, last thought here. there is a pattern now of real dishonesty on the part of the romney campaign ads. they're out there saying that romney's been accused of outlawing birth control, contraception. nobody's ever accused him of

that. they've said that he's not supporting the right of women to have it covered in their health plans. why are they putting out these desperate ads like jeep's going to china and women are under attack for buying birth control pills? i mean, it's an absurdity. who would be so uninformed as to believe these ads? >> well, chris, that's a different question. there are such a thing as uninformed voters and that's fine, that's part of our process. but this is the silly season. you know this, chris. you've studied many more elections than i have. this is the silly season. and that's why you get that kind of desperation. it's kind of strange, though, because i'm not sure whether they're making the appeal to the right demographics in the state they need to make these certain appeals to. it seems strange they have the stroller ad here in p.a., and doubly strange for them to have that fake sort of chrysler ad in the very state where people have benefited most from the president's auto bailout piece. so it just seems strategically like there's a few mismatches here. >> i think women have enough

reason to vote against romney, without adding up reasons -- >> there's been too much playing around with the politics of women's health issues and rape and all this other stuff. that's alienating a lot of suburban white women voters and a lot of black -- a lot of women voters across the board actually. >> okay. thank you so much, james peterson from the great lehigh university and erin mcpike from real clear. up next, joe isuzu is back, campaigning for mitt romney, sort of. you don't want him too much on your side. this is "hardball," the place for politics. ♪ i'd like to thank eating right,

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back to "hardball." now to the sideshow. first the return of miguel bombito. michael bloomberg took center and front several times this week to keep new yorkers informed about hurricane sandy and its aftermath. as he's done in the past, bloomberg, quite admirably,

addressed spanish-speaking new yorkers directly. the problem? some think bloomberg's linguistic skills are lacking. you take a listen. [ speaking spanish ] >> wow, anyway, room for improvement maybe. well, those recent press conferences sparked the resurgence of the el blombito twitter feed, which spoofs the experience of listening to the mayor speaking un-espanol. listen to this one, about to evacuate. if need to vamoose anywhere use on cab degypsy or unglider dehang. anyway, you get the picture. remember joe isuzu, those commercials where it seemed like he would say anything to get you to buy an isuzu. >> the isuzu pup, so incredible, a supreme court justice is here to verify our claim. each isuzu pickup is built

tough, so you can drive it forever, and so inexpensive, you can buy one with your spare change. and now with generous factory incentives, buy one, and you'll get one free. you have our word on it. >> well, believe it or not, joe isuzu is making a comeback in the form of pitching mitt romney and some more of his questionable campaign promises. >> if i'm president, i will create 12 million new jobs in this country. there's nothing better for getting us to a balanced budget than having more people working, earning more money, paying more taxes. the revenue i get is by more people working, getting higher pay, paying more taxes. that's how we get growth and how we balance the budget. the reason i'm in this race is there are people that are really hurting today in this country. i will not, under any circumstances, raise taxes on middle income families. i will lower taxes on middle income families. we didn't cut medicare, of course, we don't have medicare, but we didn't cut medicare. we care for those who have

difficulties, those that are elderly and have problems and challenges, those that are disabled, we care for them. i'm not familiar precisely with exactly what i said, but i stand by what i said, whatever it was. >> that was brilliant. anyway, those ads were created and brought to us by humorous mark lewis. the actor, by the way, davis leisure, who was joe isuzu, was happy to be part of the project. you can see that. up next, romney's grossly dishonest jeep act was so misleading that, as i said, chrysler and gm executives themselves are pushing back hard against romney's trickery here and it may be a bridge too far for romney. sometimes you go too far. and that's ahead. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics.

hi, i'm lynn berry. motorists in new york city and

new jersey are having a difficult time finding an open gas station. many are having trouble being open so there are long lines where they are, about half the stations in the region are closed either because they ran out of gas or had no power. meanwhile, new york will resume some subway service thursday and amtrak will restore some new york city service friday and the new york stock exchange re-opened without a hitch after a two-day shutdown. now back to "hardball." gm is back! chrysler is the fastest growing automaker in the world, and what's happened and what's ryan and romney's response? desperation. desperation. in the last hours of this campaign -- i just came from ohio -- in the last hours of this campaign, if you can believe it, they're running the

most scurrilous ad in hoi and i want you to listen, one of the most flagrantly dishonest ads i can ever remember in my political career. >> welcome back. that was vice president biden. leading the false impression that they'll send american jobs overseas to china. here's part of the romney ad. >> obama took gm and chrysler to china. mitt romney will fight for every american job. >> this is not the first time a romney ad has spread a falsehood. on his position on contraception, think of and that he ended the work requirement for welfarwelfare. that's still running. the auto industry itself, a general motors spokesman condemned the ad saying, we've

clearly entered some parallel universe during these last few days. no amount of campaign politics at its cynical worst will diminish our record of creating jobs back to this country. and the ceo of chrysler said, chrysler group's production for plans of the jeep plan have been the focus of public debate. i feel obliged to restate our position. jeep production will not be moved from the united states to china. it's inaccurate to suggest anything different. steve ratner was formerly the obama administration's auto adviser, the lead auto adviser, sometimes called the car czar. bill blasick is detroit bureau chief for "the new york times" and author of "once upon a car: the fall and resurrection of america's big three automakers, gm, ford and chrysler." i saw the commercial, see how it

could literally be true but delivers a message that obama brought down the big three, chrysler and jeep, and that he's moving jobs out of detroit and out of the united states. i think both those claims are false. what is your view, in fact, objective reporting on that? >> well, it's very unusual for general motors and chrysler, first off, to respond to a political ad. both companies were bailed out and have turned their fortunes around since their bankruptcies. and i think they both took a vow of silence during this political campaign to try and stay as far away from the partisan politics as possible. but as one gm executive told me, this ad crossed a line. it was, as they said, too outrageous and misleading for them not to respond to. the fact is, general motors has been building vehicles in china for many years. it's one of the largest carmakers in china. but no automakers sell cars made

in the united states into china because of import duties and the costs associated with that. on the chrysler side, it's troubling that they would attack jeep, which has been serving the cornerstone of chrysler's comeback, and toledo, ohio, and detroit, michigan, where they are adding jobs, shifts in the plants and making more jeeps than ever before and can't keep them in stock long enough. so to suggest that they need to go elsewhere to build their jeeps is false. and the fact of the matter is, in the global auto industry today, particularly in china, the mantra is, build them where you sell them. so this idea that somehow american jobs are at risk, because of chinese production, really doesn't add up. >> let me go to steve rattner. i think for the people that have just been following this, the big decision that obama had to make, and you had to make as one of his officers was what? what was the key philosophical or governmental choice that had

to be made on your watch to save the american auto industry and the way to save it? >> of course, there was a broad question of whether government should intervene at all in the private sector and the industrial sector, which even those of us who are democrats, are very loathe to see happen. once we crossed that threshold, the really tough decision the president had to make was whether to save chrysler or not. chrysler was the number three company. it was only operating in north america. it didn't have a single car on the "consumer reports" most recommended list. many of the president's advisers felt that the government should not be in the business of saving losing companies, and i agreed with that view or sympathized with it anyway. and the reason the president came down the other way was because we had available to us this partnership with fiat. and specifically, the ceo of fiat, servio marcchione, and the fit between the two companies was fabulous, and we thought he could turn around chrysler, and he has done all of those things. and i think that all of us

involved with this could not be more delighted with the partnership with fiat. >> explain the geography of the american auto production center. it's in detroit. how much of it -- what states really are involved in it, besides ohio, we've heard a lot about. where are sort of leviathan of the american industry? where do we build our cars? >> well, it's a national industry. the big three automakers, gm, ford and chrysler still have the bulk of their american production in the midwest. ohio, michigan, some in illinois. but it's in kansas city, in texas. there used to be plants in georgia and missouri. as we all know, the industry has shrunk quite a bit in recent years. part of the problem with general motors, ford, and chrysler has added too many plants and too few buyers. the industry has gone through a tremendous restructuring. but it is a national industry, and, of course, the japanese automakers and the german

automakers are concentrated in the southern states, tennessee, kentucky, alabama. >> and they build their cars here to sell here, right? they build their cars here, mainly, right? >> every major automaker, if they're successful, tries to build as many cars as they can in the market in which they're selling them. and that's no different, if it's the u.s. or europe or china, for that matter. and china has the additional qualifications of the chinese government requires any automaker that's making cars there to have a partner in china and pretty much, discourages imports into china by slapping large tariffs and duties on cars. >> okay. >> sold in any volume need to be there. >> thank you. that settles it. because the issue now is whether jeeps are building jeeps in america for americans. they clearly are.

the chrysler company that makes jeeps says they're making all their cars here. here's the romney ad defending the auto ad. they're defending it, which had been denounced by out company leaders. "the new york times" reports, quote, the romney campaign has insisted that its ad merely states the truth. quote, jeeps are not currently made in china and soon will be, creating jobs there instead of at home. it would be better if they expanded production in the united states instead of expanding in china, said stewart stevens, the senior adviser to mr. romney. well, a gm spokesman responded to this saying, "that is absolutely bereft of any fundamental understanding of the global automotive industry. all global manufacturers, whether general motors, ford, chrysler or vw, build historically in the markets in which we sell." steve rattner, last, just to nail this down, it seems to me, the reality is, beyond all the nonsense and the ads put out by romney to get votes are that we build jeeps in this country for people to buy them in this country, as i have done, and we build jeeps in china for chinese people to buy, and that's the way it's been, it's the way it will be, according to all future plans. >> yes.

and i think both you and bill and what you have just read from the gm spokesman has made that very clear. cars are being built near to where people buy them. now as it happens we do export a reasonable number of jeeps at the moment because it is such an iconic brand worldwide. and what sergio marcchione committed is that jeep wranglers will only be made in toledo for the foreseeable future. and any jeep wranglers that are bought around the world, and as i said, it is an iconic brand, will be exported from the u.s., but we do want these companies to make cars close to where their customers are. we want chrysler to be profitable. we want general motors to be profitable. and these are all good things, not bad things, from the standpoint of the american taxpayer and the american citizens. >> and i own a wrangle ler. my daughter owns a wrangler. they're great cars. thank you very much, bill blasick of "the new york times." and steve rattner, the car czar. up next, much more on the aftermath of hurricane sandy and the devastation it caused along the eastern seaboard. there's some more flooding pictures.

that's hoboken, i think. this is "hardball," the place for politics. hat last tide comml with the parents and the cute little baby triplets... well wait until your triplets move back home after college. we were enjoying our empty nest. and now it's just a nest full of laundry. lucky underwear. we were going through so much of that bargain detergent... and the clothes didn't look as good. but since we switched to tide, we use much less. their clothes are looking much more...uh... what's the word? clean? employable. [ female announcer ] one cap of tide gives you more cleaning power than 6 caps of the bargain brand. [ mom ] that's my tide, what's yours?

we've got some new "new york times"/quinnipiac/cbs poll numbers in three key senate races. let's check the "hardball" scoreboard. we start in virginia, where democrat tim kaine is leading republican george allen by just four, kaine, 50, allen, 46. in ohio democratic senator

sherrod brown has a nine-point lead over josh mandel. and in florida, democratic senator bill nelson keeps coming back. he's got a big lead over republican connie mack, nelson 52, mack, 39. mack that's the son of connie mack. and that's a 13-point lead for the democrat. we'll be right back. we're b.

we're back. one of the areas hit hardest by hurricane sandy is hoboken, new jersey, home of frank sinatra within just across the river there, you can see it from across the hudson from downtown manhattan. it's a commuter community and one square mile lies below sea level. it's flooded now with a combination of rainwater, sewage, fuel, and live wires.

of course, there are still live electric wires. some residents are still stranded. with us right now from hoboken is katy tur. thank you for joining us, katy. look out for those live wires. tell us what the situation is there in terms of the flooding because we can see it all around you. >> reporter: the flooding is still pretty bad. it's receded in a number of parts of the city, because they have these industrial pumps and vacuum trucks going right now. the water has actually receded quite a bit since we've been here. it's gone down a couple inches. but it's still pretty flooded across this area. you have to remember, even though you're only seeing it up to my shins here, there's water in basements all across the city. the water table is really high. so in order to get all of that out, they're going to have to be pumping for two days. there's -- excuse me. there's 500 million gallons of water they need to get out of this city. 500 million gallon, chris, in one square mile. the mayor of this city, dawn zimmer, says it will take two days to do that. they've been pumping all day today.

so hopefully by the end of the day tomorrow, they'll almost be there. also in terms of power, we've been getting a lot of questions from people about when will power come on here? they've been without power since monday night. and everyone wants to think that once this water is gone, that maybe they'll have light, they'll be able to charge their cell phones, their refrigerators will work, their lives will start getting back to normal. unfortunately, psg&e, the electric company around here, told the mayor that it could take seven to ten days. they're hoping it isn't that long. but they want everyone to prepare for it. the national guard was here. they have been here all day. they were rescuing the elderly and the sick and people who needed to get out of their homes because of emergencies, who needed immediate care. they've been doing that all day long. if people did not need to leave their houses, and there are a number of people here who are staying in their homes, the national guard is bringing in supplies. they're bringing in food, they're bringing in water, generators if they can find them, and anything they can get, so people who have to stay inside without power for a week's time. that being said, they still need

a lot of help. the mayor just had a news briefing out here, which actually turned into a town hall of sorts. about 100 people from all across the city came and watched to see what was going on. she said they need generators, they need boats, they need batteries, they need water, they need supplies, they need the townspeople to come in and help where they can. they also need volunteers. you are getting a lot of people in this town volunteering their time to help out, which is such a good thing to see when there are disasters like this, chris. another big concern here, other than the water and not having power and the fact that it's flooded and there's damage, what's actually in this water. you mentioned, as you were throwing to me, that there's sewage, there's heating oil, there's debris, there's waste, there's all sorts of junk within this water that is just not safe. if you pan down, i don't know how easy it is to see, because the light's been going down, but there's a sheen all over all of this water. that's heating oil and that's gasoline, and that is not safe to walk in. and we've seen a number of

people all day long leaving their houses because they've been stuck inside for 2 1/2 days to go get supplies. unfortunately, they don't have waders, and they don't have boots so they're leaving -- some of them are trying to do makeshift trash bags around their ankles, but others are just leaving barefoot. and that's just the last thing you want to do in this water, because you can get sick from it. so the mayor is trying to tell people not to do that. she's not being so successful, because people need to get out and they need to get their supplies. chris? >> katy, you know, you sound like -- it reminds me completely, although the weather is different, of new orleans where you had that same muck in the water. and the reporting here is amazing. i didn't know that hoboken is below sea level. a good part of the city year round is actually below the level of the hudson, right? >> reporter: that's what's amazing about hoboken, every time it rains, this place floods. every time there's a large downpour, it floods. i used to work at wnbc local, we were here every spring when it got to be really rainy out here and it flooded. this is not like anything they've seen, though.

this is much worse. >> yeah, it looks like it. >> and the idea it's going to take two days to get out is actually quite remarkable. >> great reporting by nbc's katy tur in hoboken, new jersey. when we return, let me finish with something serious too, the best way to fight against ugly racial politics. we're going to tell you how to do it. it basically comes down to one word, get out there and vote yourself. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics.

let me finish tonight with this. i'm hoping that this focus on the weather and what we face together will remove some of the man-made poison out of this election, the donald trump stuff, the sununu nastiness, the ethnic card that keeps getting played under the table. i think it's vital that none of that gets in the way next week, for the same reason none of that bad stuff has anything to do with the way we're doing things this week, together, all of this together, worrying together, facing it together, especially in new jersey, where my family spent so many summers growing up. as people go to vote, know of one great anecdote with the effort to suppress voting in states like pennsylvania, and that anecdote is to get out there and vote yourself. vote like your life depends on it. get your kids and relatives and good friends to vote, like their lives depend on it. no excuses, no reasons, no screw-ups, no distractions, nothing can get in your way. th